From Punch Tape to Jump Drives

Tonight I was having trouble getting my blog formatted the way I wanted. In frustration I yelled at the computer screen, "I can write in WYSIWYG or I can write in HTML, but not in this hybrid!" Yes, yes, I know, my sanity is called into question when I talk to inanimate objects. At least the screen didn't reply.

My brother-in-law (who is much younger and more computer savvy than me) turned with a puzzled look and asked, "What is Wizzywig?"

It took me back for a minute that he hadn't heard of it before. I figured anyone who had ever touched a computer knew what that meant. I told him it was before his time, somewhere after punch tape and before Windows. He looked even more puzzled and queried, "Punch tape???" Oh geez, I'm getting old.

My first experience on a computer was in ninth grade in Houston, Texas using punch tape. We had to write a simple computer program, not more than ten lines of code or so. We punched the tape with the code and ran it on the computer. If the program ran as expected we passed. If it didn't we had to try and try again until it ran correctly. It was a tedious process.

In 1982 I worked for a company that owned two DEC PDP-11/70s, which were top of the line computers in real-time processing. These two behemoths had their own room with their own air-conditioning system and disc drives the size of serving platters. There were only a dozen or so in the entire state of Arkansas and we had two of 'em. Each one had 100 MB of disk space and 128K of memory. I think a $1.00 calculator hanging on a card in the check-out lane has more than that today.

By 1992 I was working on a 286 PC creating massive spreadsheets and printing them on dot matrix printers. If the spreadsheet didn't fit on one page I had to decide which columns to delete to make it work. I finally got a 486 with WYSIWYG capabilities and I thought I was in heaven. Woo Hoo! Then Windows and Microsoft Office came along and report writing was a snap.

Tonight I was complaining about having to tote a non-erasable CD to the store to make photo prints. Because I can't erase the photo files I have already printed, I have to scroll through all those at the store to get to the two or three I do want. Hubby said I should use the jump drive instead. We have a jump drive??? Yep, it's been collecting dust in the bottom of *his* camera bag for months. His mom gave it to him because the keyring hole was broken. Woo Hoo! Mine now!

As I pondered on this slim little 2" gadget of plastic I realized it will hold more information than a fleet of 486s; more than the two DEC PDP-11/70s sitting in their specially air-conditioned room; and more than a warehouse holding a forest of punch tape.

I can put this thingy in my pocket.

Oh, how far we have come.